Movember

What do you first notice in this famous photo-portrait of Salvador Dali? My sample of 10 was unanimous: "the moustache", they crowed. The chicken barely registered a mention.

Every now and again I am reminded of how disconnected I have become from the zeitgeist of my culture. Earlier this month, during a short visit to the Netherlands, I met a representative of one of our investors sporting an impressive moustache. I was surprised: since the days of the silver screen, of Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and the great Charlie Chaplin, the popularity of the moustache seems to have been on a fairly continuous decline, punctuated only by Tom Selleck's luxuriant growth in the TV series Magnum PI. But the decline has been arrested especially in the month of November, courtesy of the Movember movement.

Movember originated in the United States a few years ago as a means of raising money for and awareness of men's health issues, in particular for prostate cancer-related charitable causes. Movember is now spreading the globe: a reminder of how potent the internet is in disseminating information. Having only heard about myself earlier this month, I assumed that at least to date it had passed Africa by. But I was wrong. Almost immediately on my return to Kampala, I saw a Movember stand in the South African retailer Game store at the Lugogo shopping mall.

For me, the month of November will always be sombre. Dark, cold, the beginning of winter, without the bright lights of Christmas or the hope that the New Year brings. Also, I associate November with Remembrance Day. My mother was a poppy lady every November, collecting door-to-door on late autumn evenings for the military charity the British Legion, and, while my schoolboy head was instead full of plans and excitement for the fireworks and bonfires of Guy Fawkes night on 5th November, I would sometimes be persuaded to accompany her on her door-to-door beat through the quiet residential areas of northern Fleet. Both my parents were veterans of the second World War and my father's family connections with the military, through his decorated uncle (Tom Adlam, awarded the Victoria Cross in the first World War), were strong.

My father suffered from prostate cancer - fortunately the slow-burning variety. His PSA levels were checked regularly to ensure that the rate of increase in cancerous cells remained slow. He passed away almost six years ago from heart failure at the ripe old age of 86. I don't know what he would have made of Movember - he wasn't given to the support of causes - but he preserved his own moustache until his demise, and I think if nothing else he would have like to have seen even a temporary increase in facial hair. Hearing about Movember has also reminded me, as I approach my own 50th birthday next May, to regularly check my PSA levels for any evidence of this most stealthy of cancers.